Hewlett-Packard Co. is expanding the capacity-on-demand functionality of its midrange Unix servers to include memory and cell boards as well as processors.
The announcement Thursday was part of a package of moves—including service enhancements and price cuts—by the Palo Alto, Calif., company to keep its top spot in the midrange Unix space. The enhancements and price cuts cover HPs eight-way rp7405 and rp7410 servers and the 16-way rp8400 system, but will be applied to high-end systems later in the year, according to Dimitris Dovas, worldwide product manager for HPs Unix servers.
Until now, HP offered the ability to increase processor capacity as needed in its servers. But, Dovas said, “If you activate the CPUs, you need memory to take advantage of that.”
Customers now can buy their servers with extra processing power, memory and cell boards turned off, paying only 10 percent of the price of the unused resources. Once they are turned on, the customer pays the remaining 90 percent, Dovas said.
The capacity-on-demand feature, which also includes other payment options, gives users the flexibility to pay for only the power they need, he said.
HP also is cutting the prices of the servers by about 20 percent and is offering a free custom configuration service, Dovas said. HP will custom configure the servers—including partitioning, component installation and software loading—at the factory, speeding up the time it takes for users to deploy the systems, he said.
The enhancements, price cuts and services are available immediately.
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